Add spice to your menu with chourico

The popularity of the spicy, paprika-tinted sausage is all part of the increase in chefs using pork products, said Jonathan Cambra, executive chef at The Boat House restaurant in Tiverton, R.I.

Linda Murphy

Long a tradition in Portuguese cuisine, chourico is becoming a much more visible item on restaurant menus.

The popularity of the spicy, paprika-tinted sausage is all part of the increase in chefs using pork products, said Jonathan Cambra, executive chef at The Boat House restaurant in Tiverton, R.I.

The variety in flavors of nonsmoked and smoked pork products such as chourico provide a flavor palette for chefs that isn’t found in other types of meat, he said. “For chefs, it brings the opportunity to create a lot of different things from the same animal. I love the salty seasoning of cured pork: chourico, and its Spanish cousin, chorizo,” said Cambra.

The Portuguese chourico is salt-and-smoked cured and not fully dried, while chorizo is typically just salt cured, and is often consumed without further cooking, similar to salami.
Cambra, who plans to introduce a chourico, shrimp and scallop stuffed lobster on a new fall menu at the casual, upscale waterfront restaurant, serves chourico in a variety of items including “caldeirada de peixe,” a soup of native cod, littleneck clams, potatoes and chourico and white wine broth.

Another dish that he makes is a chourico version of “carne alantejana,” which is traditionally made with pork, fried potatoes, and clams.
“The truth is I’ve been playing around with it my whole life. There’s so much you can do with it,” said Cambra, adding it was part of his heritage of growing up in a Portuguese family.

Though every recipe varies, (and he’s tried to make chourico from a family recipe, but not to his satisfaction) he said the sausage’s distinctive flavor is made by using salt, paprika, hot pepper sauce, and red or white wine depending on the region of Portugal.

The recipe is a closely guarded secret at Michael’s Provision Co., a retailer and wholesaler whose chourico and linguica products are found in just about every area supermarket: Shaw’s, Stop and Shop, Market Basket, Hannaford Foods and Price Rite.

Brothers Ronnie and Joe Miranda have owned the business, which ships chourico and linguica all over the United States, for the past 24 years.

Ronnie Miranda, who said his involvement in the business goes back to age 11 when a family friend owned the business, said the difference between linguica and chourico used to be that the linguica was a much more finely ground meat. But these days, as the sausage has evolved to meet the changing tastes of the younger generations, the only difference is that linguica is made from hog casings and chourico is made with beef casings.

The linguica is also a smokier flavor than chourcio, both of which are available in hot and spicy and ground. They have also started to make chicken and turkey linguica and chourico.

The process of making both linguica and chourico begins with the larger pieces of meat being put into a meat breaker in the stainless steel production room in the back of the retail store in Fall River. From there, the meat goes into a grinder and then a mixer in which the spices are added to the meat before it is stuffed into the casing.

“Both are 100 percent pork and the chicken and turkey ones are 100 percent chicken or turkey,” said Ronnie Miranda, though he wouldn’t hint at the mix of spices that have made the Michael’s products a success for decades.

The stuffed casings are then put into the smokehouse, (a steel room) for a couple of hours and once they’re cooked they are put into a cooler to bring them back down to temperature.

“The recipe is from the old country, but with the younger generations’ tastes, we’ve changed it over the years,” said Ronnie Miranda. “The old-fashioned product used to be very smoky, but the younger generation doesn’t want it like that.”

Diver sea scallops
with chourico
For the scallops
4 each fresh diver sea scallops
1 link chourico
1 tablespoon canola oil
Using a ½-inch ring mold cut out the center of each scallop. Reserve the centers for later. Cut chourico lengthwise making sure it is the same height as the scallop. Using a slightly larger ring mold remove the centers of the chourico. Reserve the scraps for later use. Fill the scallops with the chourico centers. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add canola oil until it lightly smokes and add scallops. Brown on both sides and cook in a 350-degree oven for 2 minutes or until slightly firm. Remove and reserve scallops for later use.
For the mung beans
1 cup split mung beans
2 cup salted water
Bring two cups of salted water to a boil and add mung beans and cook until tender. Reserve for later.
To prepare the tat soi saute:
1 tablespoon chourico scraps
canola oil
reserved scallop centers
1 shallot sliced
1 head tat soi (remove the bottom stems, using only the greens)
1 cup blanched mung beans
2 teaspoons fermented Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Juice of 1 fresh yuzu
1 cup dehydrated caracara orange segments
1 teaspoon duck stock reduction
Heat a sauté pan over high heat. Add chourico scraps, canola oil, scallop centers and cook until lightly brown. Add shallots and sweat for a minute longer. Add tat soi, mung beans, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, yuzu and duck stock reduction, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add dehydrated citrus, cilantro leaves and adjust with salt and pepper.
To present the dish
Place tat soi saute in the center of a bowl. Slice scallops lengthwise and arrange over the tat soi sauté. Garnish with mung bean and black mustard seed sprouts.
Serves 4
Recipe from Karsten Hart, executive chef at Castle Hill Inn and Resort, Newport, R.I.